Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Jeyakumar:
This is not the world that I wish to bequeath my grandchildren. That is
why I am a socialist and intend to remain so despite the EO arrest.

KUALA
LUMPUR, July 20 — Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Devaraj Jeyakumar has
insisted he will not waver from his socialist beliefs despite being held
under the Emergency Ordinance (EO) for allegedly attempting to revive
communism.

In a statement released late yesterday, the Parti Sosialis Malaysia
(PSM) leader said that current economic practices both locally and
globally were an unsustainable “race to the bottom.”

“This is not the world that I wish to bequeath my grandchildren. That
is why I am a socialist and intend to remain so despite the EO arrest,”
he wrote after three weeks in detention.

Dr Jeyakumar was among 30 PSM members arrested on June 25 for
allegedly planning to “wage war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong” and
attempting to revive communist in part of a dragnet leading up to the
July 9 Bersih rally.
Police found in their possession T-shirts bearing the likenesses of
former Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leaders Chin Peng and Rashid
Maidin.

Police later dropped all charges but immediately rearrested the
lawmaker and five others under the EO on July 2 and charged the
remaining 24 for possession of Bersih material and involvement in an
illegal organisation.

In the aftermath of the chaotic rally, Bersih and opposition leaders
as well as human rights activists have pushed for the release of the
six.

This comes as the Najib administration has embarked on a damage
control exercise due to the stinging tone taken by the international
press over its handling of the demonstration calling for free and fair
elections.

In his statement yesterday, Dr Jeyakumar called for a “workable alternative to an economy driven by corporate greed.”

He maintained that despite the general opinion that socialism “has
been assigned to the dustbin of history” and is only championed by
“deluded people,” it was still crucial in “averting a collosal
economic-ecological disaster that will occur within the next 30-60
years.”

“The global owners of capital and technological expertise who control
market access are a relatively small number of corporations – about 500
to 1000. They have become all powerful in the unipolar world of today
and can “bargain hunt”. Even the biggest governments can’t control
them,” he wrote.

He specifically pointed out that Malaysia’s policies to attract
investors, including lowering corporate tax, allowing contractualising
of labour and weakening unions as well as privatisation of basic
services such as healthcare and tertiary education, was piling pressure
on the poorest 70 per cent of the population.

The National Economic Advisory Council has said that 40 per cent of
Malaysian households are still living on RM1,500 per month or less.

“The issue here is not insufficient regulations but a misdistribution
of the world’s wealth! To address this problem, the power of the
corporations has to be challenged,” Dr Jeyakumar added.

He stressed that these patterns if left unchecked could “lead to an
ecological, food or climatic disaster that will lead to a decimation of
the world’s population.”

This puts him on collision course with the party’s official line,
which deems the polls watchdog as illegal and insisting that the
country’s election system is clean.

While many of his party members including Prime Minister Najib Razak
are hellbent on demonising Bersih, the Kelantan prince said the demands
made by the loose coalition of 62 NGOs should be heeded if the present
administration genuinely advocates justice and fairness.

“I don’t know what their intentions are. I don’t know them personally
but as a democrat… given that Umno itself had vowed to protect
democracy in this country, it is a must to consider all their demands,”
he told a press conference in Gua Musang on Sunday.

“It is not like they are looking to topple the government,” he added,
referring to the repeated accusation by government leaders that
Bersih’s planned rally was a masked coup d’etat attempt.

The Najib administration also accused Bersih 2.0 of being an
opposition stooge while Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia had gone as far as
accusing the NGO of being “foreign agent” in a Western conspiracy to
wrest federal power.

Razaleigh, affectionately known as Ku Li, suggested that it was normal for the opposition to support the group’s demands.

“They want to put in their candidates and contest too so let the
voters decide. If they decide to vote for the opposition, what can we
do? That is the democratic right of the voters.”

‘How are we developed?’

Razaleigh, the Gua Musang MP, said one of Bersih’s demands – a 21-day
campaign period to replace the current seven to eight day period – is
reasonable.

He cited Sarawak whose interiors are hard to access making
campaigning extremely difficult for the opposition given its limited
election machinery compared to Umno and Barisan Nasional’s powerful
resources.

He also said that it is rightful for the opposition to be given a
level playing field in media coverage, which is also one of Bersih 2.0′s
demands.

The government is forced to be on the defensive over its handling of
the Bersih rally. The “heavy- handed” response to the July 9 peaceful
gathering has compelled the authorities to go into damage control mode,
with Najib himself having to deflect international criticism.

The clampdown on Bersih and opposition leaders received widespread
coverage in the foreign media and brought negative international
attention. Authorities used what Bersih leaders called “draconian” laws
to arrest more than 1,700 Bersih supporters.

While most have been freed and some still being detained, Razaleigh
criticised the use of such laws to quell dissent, saying it was a
violation of human rights.

“How can we say we are developed when our mentality is not developed?
Control here and control there… we can’t do this. It is against human
rights,” he said.

A
private investigator's legal deposition, revealed by Opposition leader
Anwar Ibrahim on July 3, implicates Deputy Prime Minister Najib in the
high-profile Altantuya murder case.The deposition, based
primarily on statements reportedly made by Altantuya and murder
defendant Razak Baginda, indicates that Najib had an affair with
Altantuya, Altantuya assisted Najib in the controversial purchase of
French submarines, and Najib attempted to intervene on Razak Baginda's
behalf at the time of his arrest.

The
deposition, based primarily on statements reportedly made by Altantuya
and murder defendant Razak Baginda, indicates that Najib had an affair
with Altantuya, Altantuya assisted Najib in the controversial purchase
of French submarines, and Najib attempted to intervene on Razak
Baginda's behalf at the time of his arrest.

The investigator claims that this information was suppressed by police and ignored by prosecutors.

Anwar's
revelation of this information comes as he launches a political
offensive following recent sodomy allegations, which he believes were
instigated by Najib.Meanwhile, Anwar and the Opposition
coalition are set to begin a series of nationwide rallies, including a
major gathering on July 6 near Kuala Lumpur.

The
national police chief announced the military would join the police in
tackling illegal assemblies in an emergency situation, a role the
military last played during the 1969 politically-inspired race riots.

Najib
and the government of Prime Minister Abdullah will need to respond,
both to Anwar's explosive revelations, but also to the Opposition
leader's political offensive, including plans to hold nationwide
rallies.End Summary.

Explosive Revelations

2.
(SBU) On July 3, as the next step in his energized political offensive,
former DPM and de facto opposition coalition leader Anwar Ibrahim
released a statutory declaration (similar to a deposition in the U.S.
system), made by private investigator P. Balasubramaniam on July 1,
linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib to murder victim Altantuya
Shaariibuu (ref e) and implicating Najib in efforts to subvert the
investigation of the case.

(Najib's advisor Razak Baginda and two members of Najib's security detail are currently on trial for murder in this case.)

Anwar produced the explosive affidavit during a press conference on July 3, with Balasubramaniam standing by his side.

3.(SBU)
Balasubramaniam bases his statement on conversations he had with Razak
Baginda and with Altantuya; on events he witnessed acting as Razak
Baginda's investigator; and his experiences under arrest and in the
courtroom at the opening stage of the murder trial.Among other things, the affidavit includes the following damaging allegations against Najib and others:

-- Najib and Altantuya had an affair and that Najib introduced her to Baginda.(Note: Najib has repeatedly denied knowing Altantuya.End note.)

--
Najib, along with Razak Baginda, was with Altantuya in Paris in
connection with the negotiations for the purchase of French submarines,
and that Altantuya believed she was due $500,000 for her services.

-- Najib asked Razak Baginda to take care of Altantuya, as Najib did not want Altantuya harassing him.

--
Najib, in a text message, told Razak Baginda he would meet with
Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan to resolve the issue of Razak
Baginda's impending arrest for murder.

--
Police omitted the above information that Balasubramaniam provided
during his seven-day interrogation regarding the murder, and that
prosecutors never addressed any questions to him during his court
appearances.

4.(SBU) Anwar
stated it was evident the police and prosecution team, especially IGP
Musa Hassan and Attorney General Abdul Gani manipulated the case to
protect the DPM and hide any linkages of the DPM to Altantuya.He
declared that the declaration further confirmed a clear and consistent
pattern of manipulation of the criminal justice system since 1998.

Anwar
continued by saying he is worried the IGP and AG will again manipulate
evidence and statements during the probe into alleged sodomy charges
against Anwar (ref A - C).

5.(SBU)
Anwar's incendiary revelations follow a statutory declaration by
controversial blogger Raja Petra in which he alleged that Najib's wife,
Rosmah, was present at scene of Altantuya's murder.In
addition, on July 1 Anwar publicly accused Najib and Rosmah for being
behind the current sodomy allegations against Anwar, which is now under
police investigation.

Taking the Campaign Against Najib on the road

6.(SBU)
On another front, Anwar starts a nationwide tour with a rally in Penang
on July 5 followed by an appearance at a rally in Shah Alam on July 6.The
Opposition hope to use the Shah Alam rally, originally intended as a
protest against the fuel price hikes, as a show of support for their
cause against the government.

Anwar
and other Peoples Alliance (opposition coalition) leaders are urging
their supporters to attend and hope for a massive turnout (a minimum of
50,000 people) in order to send a message to the government and add
credibility to Anwar's claims that he can bring down the government
through the defection of enough government MPs by his announced target
of September 16.

Police-Military Joint Exercise to Maintain Public Order

7.(C)
At a joint press conference between the Inspector General of Police
Musa Hassan and Armed Forces Chief Abdul Aziz Zainal on July 2, Musa
Hassan stated that the cooperation between the security forces is
crucial because political parties, NGOs, and individuals were organizing
more illegal assemblies.They announced the police and armed forces began a joint training exercise to maintain crowd control and public order.

Musa
said the police and military would work together to tackle illegal
assemblies only if absolutely necessary and in the event of a declared
emergency.The tabletop command post exercise began July 2 is expected to run until July 7.Another joint exercise is planned in September (coinciding with the deadline Anwar set to bring down the ruling government).

The
last time joint police and military force was used to maintain public
order was during the politically motivated 1969 race riots.In
1974, a contingent of rangers was deployed to university campuses to
control student protests (coincidentally led by then student activist
Anwar Ibrahim).

Police chief
Musa Hassan stated use of military forces during a public disturbance
would only take place after consultation with the Home Ministry and
Defense Ministry.A senior military staff member told the
DATT that the military is not anxious to take on police roles, but is
closely watching events.

Comment

8.(C) Anwar and Najib have entered a very high stakes political game.The risks to both men are tremendous, and not limited to their political careers.Najib
will be damaged by the latest serious allegations, coming on the heels
of other statements implicating him and his wife in the murder, and the
existing widespread public belief that the ongoing Altantuya murder
trial has been the subject of political manipulation.

Najib
and the government of Prime Minister Abdullah will need to respond,
both to Anwar's explosive revelations, but also to the Opposition
leader's political offensive, including plans to hold nationwide
rallies.

By N H Chan
The picture on the front page of the Sunday Star, 10 July 2011 spoke
louder than words. It showed the huge crowd of peaceful but bold Bersih
supporters flying in the face of the cowardly might of the police who
were decked out in full riot paraphernalia. They must be daunted by the
sea of placid, mostly young, people facing them.

Those in the front rows were seated on the road and those at the back
were standing. All were unarmed and none were menacing the police. They
were all peaceful demonstrators who were trying to put across to the
imbeciles in power the people’s right to peaceful assembly and to show
that they were united in their call for a clean and incorrupt general
election.

The BN regime may say anything they like but the fact that the common
people could come out in large numbers in silent protest only goes to
show that the regime has lost its credibility. The regime and its
underlings the police behaved as expected of tyrants – typical of all
bullies they were afraid of their own shadow – they saw the ghosts of
the insurgency of Chin Peng and the CPM (Communist Party of Malaya)
being revived; see the Sun of Friday, July 8, 2011 where the former
Perak chief police officer and Special Branch commander Yuen Yet Leng
gave his thoughts to Maria J. Das in an interview. He said:

If you are going to sport a picture of Chin Peng on your
t-shirt, you are only asking for trouble. How do you expect the police
not to take action?

I agree with what the Special Branch had done. This problem has been
thrown in the police’s lap and involves national security and public
order.
…
The CPM has the same ideology as … Mao Zedong who believed that the
highest form of struggle is an armed struggle, and not a political
struggle.

He must be joking! I am astounded by the man’s naivety. I think he is
still living in the past which is a pity for one of our country’s
heroes (but then I also have the same problem, I could remember the past
vividly but I could not remember what I said or promised yesterday). He
was the CPO Perak when I was a Judicial Commissioner in Ipoh back then
in 1970. He was one policeman I have admired for his dedication to make
Ipoh safe from criminals. He brought down the crime rate in Ipoh. I
remember the occasion when he told me that at a police road block at
Simpang Pulai which is on the outskirts of Ipoh, the police had arrested
the occupants of a car when they found weapons for committing armed
robbery hidden in its boot. On interrogation they admitted they were en
route to Penang because it was perilous for them to commit the crime in
Ipoh as there was a fierce Chinese judge there.

To be fair I must also point out that Mr Yuen was supportive of the
reason for the people’s negative perception of the police. For example:

Das: … many people question why the police seem to act
against only certain parties, while others who make seditious comments
and threats get away. Won’t the public equate this with police
persecution?

Yes and no. The police usually back the effort of the incumbent
government of the day so long as it acts by the rule of law, but they
need to be more courageous to act when supporters of the government go
too far. When they are hesitant, they are bound to be accused of being
unfair. Being balanced will earn the police some respect.

He also said:

… there is nothing wrong with Bersih 2’s demands and the
incumbent government must hear the genuine worries of the people. They
need to pry things apart and deal with people who are sincere with their
concerns. Then legitimate complaints can be looked into. … the timing
is such that there appears to be a united front against the government,
and this frightens them.

Returning to the hullabaloo of the police on the involvement of
national security and public order, don’t they know, as all of us
already know, that communism as an ideology had collapsed with the fall
of the Berlin wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union? There is
no more threat from any idea of communist expansionism from Chinese
communists as China has turn to capitalism and has prospered as the
world’s second largest economy next to America. It is true that China is
still being governed by an oligarchic regime. One must be a member of
the communist party to form the government because it is the ruling
party as China is a one party totalitarian state, just as Malaysia has
also become an oligarchy with the UMNO led Barisan Nasional remaining in
power for some 54 years.

To say that this country is a democracy is laughable. Democracy has
become an anachronism in Malaysia. As in China the ruling BN coalition
will not tolerate dissent in any form as the Bersih episode on 9 July
2011 had graphically exposed to us common folk that the police have used
excessive physical force to quell the rally of peaceful protestors who
were only asking for the reformation of the electoral system to a fairer
and incorrupt one – so that when the crowd was heard to have shouted
“reformasi” it did not mean that they were for the opposition party PKR.
We have read about police brutality against peaceful demonstrators from
eyewitnesses account in loyarburok and in Malaysiakini and we also see
them in graphic detail as the incidents of the use of excessive force by
the police on the hapless protestors were recorded live on mobile
phones by those who were there for all the world to see on Youtube.

Yet in the Star, Monday 18 July 2011, the deputy prime minister
Muhyiddin said that what had emerged through the alternative media and
YouTube were scenes that seem to show the police had acted in a cruel
manner. “What was not shown were prior scenes where the police were
provoked and taunted”, he said.

Obviously the deputy prime minister has
never heard of the well known proverb, ‘sticks and stones will break my
bones but words can never hurt me’. In any case, a policeman should be
patient and tolerant when conducting crowd control. They should try to
defuse the anger instead of being short tempered and responding with
unequal force. However, I think the negative public perception of the
police in this respect will be difficult to erase.

In any case, one notices the glaring difference in the integrity of
the government in the UK and ours. In the hacking scandal involving the
News of the World and the London police we do not see the prime minister
or the home minister or any minister coming out to defend the police.
Instead they were embarrassed and concerned so much so that an emergency
session of parliament was called. Even Britain’s police chief had to
resign. On the other hand, in Malaysia, we have the deputy prime
minister Muhyiddin coming out in defence of the police when in fact he
should be concerned and should suggest an investigation into the heavy
handed conduct of the police in handling the crowd. In this country we
throw integrity to the wind! Even our police chief did not resign – the
fact that in some areas the police had responded and reacted with
unequal force should have made him responsible as a commander.

The police have justified their harsh crackdown on the peaceful
demonstrators of Bersih for the reason of national security and public
order. But as I have explained above any prospect of a revival of a
communist insurgency in this country is a myth. To say that the CPM has
the same ideology as Mao Zedong (whose idealogy should have died with
him) who believed that the highest form of struggle is an armed struggle
and, therefore, there is every danger of an armed insurrection being
revived in this country is an unjustifiable assumption in this day and
age. Only imbeciles could have imagined that! That is why I say these
people are afraid of their own shadow. If you are afraid of your own
shadow then you must be a coward. You are also a coward, if not a
madman, if you donned your suit of armour like Don Quixote who battled
imaginary dragons in the form of windmills or riot gear ready to do
battle with unarmed and peaceful street protestors to quell a whimsical
or imaginary insurrection in the farcical interest of national security
and public order.

To be fair, it is reported in the Star, Wednesday 13 July 2011 under
the headline No plans to hold another Bersih that the Bar Council has
said something nice about some policemen:

The Bar Council thanked Inspector-General of Police Tan
Sri Ismail Omar for allowing the council’s monitoring teams to observe
the rally and for acknowledging the council’s impartiality in conducting
the observation exercise.

“Many of our monitors noted a significant number of police officers
were polite towards the leaders of the public rallies, participants and
the monitoring team,” council president Lim Chee Wee said …
However, the council said unnecessary physical force was used in some instances.

I suppose not all policemen are the bad guys. There are some decent
ones still around. Just as there are some decent Umno guys around like
the chief of Umno Youth Khairy Jamaluddin who has shown magnanimity to
Ambiga. When we leave matters to the younger generation we do not find
animosity and recrimination. They are prepared to talk and discuss on
how the country’s electoral system could be reformed. Bravo and I salute
them.

Next, there is this pithy assessment from the Star, Thursday 14 July 2011 by Baradan Kuppusamy:

Awakening the young voters
The Bersih 2.0 rally was a success by some measure because Pakatan
Rakyat supporters braved police restrictions, roadblocks and barbed wire
to gather in the city centre calling on the Government to institute
electoral reform.
There eight-point demand included issues that the opposition had been
campaigning on for many years, like a clean electoral roll, reforming
postal voting and a minimum of 21 days campaigning.
These are fundamentals of a basic election system in a democratic society and few citizens would find these objectionable.
Saturday’s rally, therefore, had an unprecedented impact on society at large and on the election system …
While Saturday’s rally was smaller in size compared to Bersih’s first
rally in November 2007, the effects were the same – the awakening of
young people to political action to rally for a basic right in defiance
of the police.
…
The rally proved its point that a large number of Malaysians can gather, despite police action, and march peacefully.

The message of Bersih is unequivocal, the people, especially the
young people, of this country have been awakened and are no longer
afraid of being intimidated by a bullying police force and they will
take political action to rally for their basic rights in defiance of the
police who they know are the minions of the avaricious people who are
greedy for power. For after all, the awakened young people are only
exercising their universal right of assembly that has been endorsed by
the United Nations as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which
says that “Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and
association”. For after all the Bersih demands are not outrageous nor
are they extravagant or unusual – most are matters that the opposition
has been canvassing in Parliament perennially. As the writer of the
above article has said, “These are fundamentals of a basic election
system in a democratic society and few citizens would find these
objectionable”.

Yet the Bersih movement and those who support them are being
suppressed by those people who are clinging on to power and their
minions the police force. Decent and normally law abiding citizens are
suppressed just for voicing out their grouses for electoral reforms. The
answer is plain for all to see. When we, the people, see our elected
representatives failed us in Parliament; when our grouses or grievances
have fallen on deaf ears in Parliament where the majority is the errant
BN coalition which has been clinging on to power for more than half a
century; when all else failed in the legislative process, the common
people of this country have no other choice but to resort to political
action of their own and the only avenue that is available which can
carry their message across most effectively is to rally for their cause
even to the extent of open defiance of police action against them.

Strange as it may seem, the powers that be seemed to have missed the
point. The point is that the Bersih movement does not belong to or
support the opposition or any political party. It is an apolitical
movement. But it supports democracy which is a government of the people,
by the people and for the people. When a government does not listen to
the people’s grouses and does not take action on them then it is not a
government for the people. And a government which is not for the people
is not a democratic government, it is a dictatorship. The message of
Bersih, which is in fact the people’s message, is loud and clear – we,
the people of this country, do not want a dictatorship! Since we do not
want a dictatorship, at the next general election we will vote the
dictators out of office and replace them with a new coalition even to
the extent of voting in the opposition. And if the new order were to
fail the people too, then we will replace them at another election. And
finally if any of our political parties were still to fail us again
then, as a last resort, we may have to vote only for individuals who are
for the people and who are incorruptible. There must be plenty of
suitable candidates to choose from for our representation in Parliament
from the Bersih movement itself. Like Ambiga I do not have the stomach
for politics in this country. There are much braver souls around.

Having said all that, one may still ask, what is the point then for a
street demonstration albeit a peaceful one? The point is to bring out
the people’s dissatisfaction and their grouse for a clean and incorrupt
government. The multitude’s belief is that the only way to attain their
goal is for a clean and incorrupt forthcoming general election. And when
that had fallen on deaf ears the only avenue left for the people to
voice their discontent is to rally in an orderly and peaceful
demonstration like the Bersih walk to Stadium Merdeka although they
never made it there as they were blocked by the police.

Now that you know what is at stake, my dear readers, you can go
straight to Loyarburok.com to read about how the police have used
excessive force on the peaceful demonstrators. In particular, do read
this article “Ambushed like Animals, I Had to Walk-Crawl”. Here is an
excerpt:

There was no sense of danger because the police had so
far let us go ahead. Sure, we all knew that eventually they would arrest
the BERSIH and political leaders but we had no clue of how inhumane it
was going to be.
When we found ourselves maneuvered into the tunnel, we started running as fast as we could.
Even if we had never imagined that we would be tear-gassed in the tunnel, there was that imminent danger.
I was in the middle of the crowd when I reached the end of the
tunnel, relieved to be out of the ominous place. But by then, there was
screaming because the FRU had started shooting tear gas straight towards
at us. I saw it with my own eyes, the FRU was aiming directly at the
people, and not over our heads.
The message was clear to me: to hurt and maim as many as possible,
even though these were peaceful demonstrators, many of whom are
respected political leaders of our country. It was only after that I had
heard that Anwar Ibrahim and his bodyguard were badly hurt for being
shot at, along with another PAS politician who was in front of the
crowd.

After reading this you should also read the other articles about the Bersih rally in loyarburok.
After you have read all those articles in loyarburok, do you want to
support Bersih? We should not be afraid of threats and coercion anymore.
Bersih is not a society or association or club. There is no
subscription or membership. You don’t have to join it. It is a movement
and whenever there is an outcry by the people we can show our support
for the movement by voting out the incumbent government of the day at
the next election. We have the power of the people. You don’t have to be
loyal to any political party.

Always be ready to tell those in
government that they are our servants who should serve the people. We,
the people, have put them there and we the people can remove them in the
next election. Any government must be for the people. It is not to be a
government for those in authority or in power. That kind of attitude
among those who governed us will no longer be tolerated by the people
who had put them there in the first place. Shortly stated, we do not
want a dictatorship at all. It is democracy that the people want and
that means the government must always be for the people.
A government for the people does not incarcerate its

KUALA LUMPUR: The police probe into the Bersih 2.0 rally is almost complete and the findings will be made public.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar said they would also screen some footage of the rally to the media.

“We
expect to screen some videos and pictures of the rally by the end of
the week,” he told a press conference at Bukit Aman yesterday.

“There
are videos and pictures circulating on the Internet and YouTube which
do not portray the exact situation clearly during the rally,” he said,
adding that six committees had been set up last week to gather and
analyse the content.

Ismail said that police had also interviewed its personnel on duty during the rally as well as members of the public.

It is learnt that the six committees would investigate occurrences at six separate locations within the city.

“We hope that the public will come forward and assist us in conducting our investigations.

“Anyone
with video footage or pictures of the rally can forward it to us so
that we can conduct a thorough investigation,” he said.

They can e-mail pusatmediapdrm@rmp.gov.my or contact 03-2266 8320 / 8321.

Taha Osman lost his temper and his Islamic antisemitism overflowed at
those whom the Qur'an calls the worst enemies of the Muslims (5:82).
"Why is that man shouting at you mummy? Taxi driver hurled racist abuse
at mums outside Jewish school in Crumpsall," from the Manchester Evening News, July 19 (thanks to Barry):

A taxi driver ranted racial abuse outside a Jewish school after getting stuck in a traffic jam.
Taha Osman shrieked ‘All Jewish children must die!’ after his car was
hemmed in by parents picking up pupils outside King David School in
Crumpsall.
Two mums on the school run and a teaching assistant were singled out
in a foul-mouthed and ‘frightening’ tirade witnessed by kids, Manchester
Crown Court heard.
Osman – an Iraqi Kurd who has settled in Britain – also shouted that
Jewish people were ‘animals’ who ‘should not be allowed in this
country’.

This too is Qur'anic: the Qur'an says that Allah cursed the
disobedient Jews and transformed them into apes and pigs (2:62-65;
5:59-60; 7:166).
Projection Alert: It is Taha Osman who should not be allowed in Britain.

The 36-year-old denied causing religiously aggravated
harassment, alarm or distress in a trial, but was found guilty by the
jury.
Sentencing him to a community order, Judge David Stockdale QC said it
was a ‘particularly nasty offence’ – but did not warrant a jail
sentence....

Pope
Benedict XVI receives a gift by Najib Razak (left) during a meeting at
the Pope's summer residence in Castelgandolfo July 18, 2011. — Reuters
pic

KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 — MCA said today that Datuk Seri
Najib Razak’s Vatican City visit was not enough to solve problems faced
by local Christians.

MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said that although the prime
minister’s visit “augurs well for the future,” the Najib administration
needed to actively engage the Christian community.

“It cannot be denied that Christians do face problems which cannot be
solved just by a diplomatic visit but with active engagement from the
government.

“Meetings between the Church leaders and government must be held
regularly as committed by the Najib administration,” he told reporters
today.

PM Najib was received yesterday by Pope Benedict XVI at the papal
summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, in only the second such visit by a
Malaysian prime minister since Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2002.

Although Najib’s delegation included Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Tan
Sri Murphy Pakiam, some quarters have criticised the visit as “an
election ploy to gain support from Christians.”

Malaysia’s multi-denominational Christian community is believed to
form close to 10 per cent of the 28 million total population, with Roman
Catholics making up nearly one million.

But most of the Christians in East Malaysia follow a few other
denominations apart from Roman Catholicism, and Najib’s visit is seen to
only assuage the concerns of the Catholics, and not other Christians.

Putrajaya had limited the import of the Alkitab from Indonesia, with
the seizure of 35,100 copies of the Malay-language bibles becoming a key
issue ahead of the April 16 Sarawak election this year.

Delays in moving forward the legal tussles over the use of the word
“Allah” to also refer to the Christian god has also stirred anger among
the community.

Allegations from BN-controlled media, including Umno-owned Utusan
Malaysia, that Christians are working hand-in-glove with communist
insurgents and opposition politicians to topple the government of the
day and supplant it with a Christian prime minister have also stirred a
storm of protests.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department
Nazri Abdul Aziz says communism is still around and that's why there is a
necessity for the Emergency Ordinance and the ISA.

KUALA
LUMPUR: The government is justifying the continued use of the Emergency
Ordinance by invoking the spectre of communism and saying communism is
still a threat to national security.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said as
long as communism is still around, preventive laws such as the Emergency
Ordinance (EO) are here to stay.

He said although Malaysia was not experiencing an insurgency, these laws were still seen as a necessity to the government.

“The name of the law is just Emergency Ordinance. The communist
(insurgency), even though it has been declared over, the EO is still in
effect so that this (communism) will not happen,” he told reporters at a
press conference at the KL Sentral Hilton.

Nazri was answering questions raised by human rights groups that the
EO, along with other laws such as the Internal Security Act (ISA) were
no longer needed.

Yesterday, the Association for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham)
said that the six PSM activists detained under the EO – for allegedly
being a national threat – on July 2 should have been given due process
in court.

Proham added that sections under the Penal Code would have been
enough for the six, which included Sungai Siput MP Dr D Michael
Jeyakumar.

The movement also said that Malaysia’s security forces were no longer
fighting against an armed struggle, and protested the use of the EO,
which slaps people with a 60-day detention order.
Possession of communism t-shirts

Nazri however, disagreed with this sentiment, and maintained that communism was still a threat to national security.

“The Emergency may have expired, but the communism understanding
(fahaman) is still around. It doesn’t mean that even though there is no
armed struggle …that we have accepted communism,” he said.

The minister maintained that the belief in communism was still very
much alive and well, saying that this was demonstrated by the T-shirts
that the PSM activists supposedly possessed.

Nazri said that possession of the T-shirts showed that use of the EO was warranted.

“This is a security issue, a problem that needs police action. If the
police feel that it is affecting (national) security, then it is left
to the police (to decide) according to the law or under the EO,” he
said.

IGP Ismail Omar vows to reveal the findings of the
special committees tasked with probing allegations of police brutality.
The videos will also be made public.

KUALA
LUMPUR: Investigations into allegations of police brutality during the
July 9 Bersih 2.0 rally are almost completed and the findings, including
videos, will be made public soon, said Inspector-General of Police
Ismail Omar.

He said as soon as the six special committees formed to look into the
various allegations have submitted their reports, he will make the
findings public.

“We don’t want to hide anything, the people have the right to know
what happened. We want to know too,” he told reporters at Bukit Aman
this afternoon.

Ismail urged the public to be patient as the police will complete the probe as quickly as possible.
“From my observation, there were some videos and photos that were
inaccurate and do not show the whole picture. We’re trying to clear that
up. Meanwhile, we should not speculate and jump to conclusions,” he
said.

It is understood that the police are in the midst of taking
statements from those who were involved in making arrests and dispersing
the crowd on July 9.

The six committees are tasked to look into the different areas where
the rally took place, including Puduraya, Dataran Merdeka, and KLCC.

The focus of the probe, where Bukit Aman is working with the Kuala
Lumpur police, is on the accusations that tear gas was fired into the
Tung Shin hospital, overall crowd control as well as protester
Baharuddin Ahmad’s death.

Ismail said that the teams, formed a week ago, have been working
round-the-clock, including gathering evidence from the Internet.

“They are working 24 hours, and I’m confident we’ll come out with the findings soon,” he said.
Ismail urged more people to come forward with evidence, saying that the information can be passed to any police station.

Information can also be channelled to pusatmediapdrm@rmp.gov.my (03-22668321 or 0322668320).

Richard Yeoh and Liau Kok Fah, members of the Bersih 2.0 steering
committee, gave the memorandum to an aide of the King’s private
secretary on Friday afternoon.

“The memorandum called for electoral reforms,” Liau told FMT today.

Bersih 2.0’s eight-point memorandum calls for a cleaning of the
electoral roll, the reformation of the postal ballot, using indelible
ink, a minimum of 21 days for campaigning, free and fair access to
media, the strengthening of public institutions such as the Election
Commission, and putting a stop to corruption and dirty politics.

It also calls for the release of the six leaders of Parti Sosialis
Malaysia (PSM), including Member of Parliament Dr Michael Jeyakumar
Devaraj, who has been detained under the Emergency Ordinance.
The Bersih 2.0 rally held on July 9 saw tens of thousands people
dressed in yellow taking to the streets to call for fair electoral
processes.

However, the Bersih steering committee members were not able to march
to the palace to deliver their memorandum as they had been arrested
earlier by the police.

(Asia Sentinel)The noose could be tightening on one of Malaysia’s greatest military
procurement scandals, the US$1 billion purchase of French-built Scorpène
submarines commissioned by then-Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak in
2002.
The latest developments come at a time when Najib, as prime minister,
has been touring Europe, meeting with Queen Elizabeth and Pope Benedict
XVI in an effort to repair an image battered by an ugly crackdown on
July 9 against tens of thousands of protesters asking for reforms of
Malaysia's electoral system, which is regarded as rigged to keep the
ruling national coalitoin in power.

The scandal allegedly involves French politicians, the giant state-owned
DCNS defense contractor and politicians and military procurement units
across the world. The scandal netted a company owned by Najib’s close
friend Abdul Razak Baginda, €114 million in “commissions,” according to
testimony in Malaysia’s Parliament. Some of the money is rumored to have
been kicked back to French and Malaysian politicians.

French investigators have been poring over DCNS records for months in
connection with the larger scandal. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption
Commission has declined to investigate the scandal, maintaining that the
giant commission was payment for legitimate services.

“It is likely that in September we should have access to the first
police conclusions from all the investigations that have taken place
over the last 18 months,” Paris-based lawyer William Bourdon told Asia Sentinel Tuesday. “We know that the police seem to have obtained quite crucial documents.”

Bourdon, the leader of a team of lawyers investigating the case, is to
visit Kuala Lumpur on July 20 to confer with Suaram, the NGO that has
filed a complaint with French authorities over the scandal. The question
in France is whether under French law an NGO can act as a complainant.
That will be decided in coming days by a French judge, Bourdon said. He
added that he is confident that he will succeed.

For years, Malaysian authorities have been trying to keep the scandal
under the carpet. The matter broke into the open in 2006, however, with
the gruesome murder of Mongolian translator and party girl Altantuya
Shaariibuu, who had served as a translator for part of the submarine
deal. She had been shot in the head and her body was blown up with
military explosives, Her last words, according to a confession by one of
her killers, was that she was pregnant. The fact that her body was
blown up has led to suspicions that the killers were trying to hide
evidence of who the father might be.

The French prosecutors are not expected to investigate Altantuya’s death
as such. Instead, they are following the case on the basis that it is
illegal to pay or take kickbacks in France. If the €114 million is found
to be a kickback, the French prosecutors can act, Bourdon said.

According to Altantuya’s final letter, which was found in a hotel room
after her death, she was supposed to have received a US$500,000 fee for
her work. After a whirlwind courtship in which she was given thousands
of dollars and whisked off to Paris and other destinations by Razak
Baginda, who is married, according to testimony, Altantuya was jilted by
and ended up in front of his Kuala Lumpur house, calling him a
“bastard” and demanding that he come out to face her.
Shortly after that, a sedan full of Malaysian police officers pulled
up and took her away. She was never seen alive again. In the letter left
behind at her death, she said she had been blackmailing Razak Baginda,
at that time a well-connected political analyst.

Two of Najib’s bodyguards have been convicted and sentenced to death for
her murder. Abdul Razak Baginda was acquitted in a trial seemingly held
to make sure top government officials’ names would not come out. He
fled to the UK and has not been back to Malaysia since.
French investigators have been going through the state-owned DCN's
records for months. In France, the scandal has major implications. Tied
to the global sales of weaponry have been deaths and scandal not only in
Malaysia but in Pakistan, Taiwan and France itself. Allegations of
kickbacks being examined by French prosecutors go clear up to former
French President Jacques Chirac, former Prime Ministers Dominique de
Villipin and Edouard Balladur and the country’s current president,
Nicholas Sarkozy in addition to an unknown number current and former
French defense executives. Military procurement officials in Taiwan,
India, Chile and Brazil may be involved, in addition to Malaysia.

Lawyers for the families of 11 French engineers killed in a 2002 bomb
attack in Karachi were quoted in April as saying they would file a
manslaughter suit against Chirac, allegedly because he cancelled a bribe
to Pakistani military officials in the sale of three Agosta 90-class
submarines to that country’s navy. Sarkozy was Minister of the Budget
when the government sold the subs, built by the French defense giant DCN
(later known as DCNS) to Pakistan for a reported US$950 million.

Prosecutors allege that Pakistani politicians and military officials and
middlemen received large “commissions” with as much as €2 million in
kickbacks routed back to Paris to fund Balladur's unsuccessful 1995
presidential campaign against Chirac. As budget minister, Sarkozy would
have authorized the financial elements of the submarine sale. At the
time he was the spokesman for Balladur’s presidential campaign and,
according to French media, has been accused of establishing two
Luxemburg companies to handle the kickbacks.

It is alleged that when Chirac was re-elected, the president canceled
the bribes to the Pakistanis, which resulted in the revenge attack on a
vehicle in which the French engineers and at least three Pakistanis were
riding. For years, the Pakistanis blamed the attack on fundamentalist
Islamic militants, including Al Qaeda.

L'affaire Karachi, as it is widely known in France, has been
called the most explosive corruption investigation in recent French
history. It may well be far bigger than just the unpaid bribes to the
Pakistanis. Executives of DCNS embarked on a global marketing drive to
sell the diesel-electric Scorpène-class subs, a new design. They peddled
two to the Chilean Navy in 1997, breaking into a market previously
dominated by HDN of Germany.

DCNS also sold six Scorpènes in 2005 with the option for six other
boats, to India, whose defense procurement agency has been involved in
massive bribery scandals in the past. Defense Minister George Fernandes
was forced to step down in 2001 after videos surfaced of procurement
officials taking bribes. In 2008, Gen. Sudipto Ghosh, the chairman of
the Ordnance Factory Board, was arrested and seven foreign companies
were barred from doing business in India as a result of a bribery
scandal.
In 2008, DCNS also won a bid to supply four Scorpènes to Brazil. DCNS is
to provide the hull for a fifth boat that Brazil intends to use as a
basis for developing its first nuclear-powered submarine.

At about the same time the French engineers were murdered in 2002 in
Karachi, Malaysia placed its US$1 billion order for two Scorpènes in the
deal engineered by Najib. In exchange, a company wholly owned by
Najib’s close friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, was paid the €114 million in
“commissions,” according to testimony in the Malaysian parliament.

Although the Malaysians have done their level best to ignore the case,
it remains alive in France. In April, Bourdon, Renaud Semerdjian and
Joseph Breham filed a case with prosecutors in Paris on behalf Suaram,
which supports good-governance causes and, Malaysian officials charge,
is closely linked to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Any investigation into corruption at the levels now underway in France
is inherently unpredictable given the interests involved. What began as a
ripple in Paris may yet build into a tsunami threatening individuals
and plans previously thought impervious to such a threat. Questioning
Abdul Razak Baginda in the UK might be a place to start.

IN light of the recent Bersih 2.0 demonstrations, and the unjustified crackdown
by the authorities, one may be forgiven if one were to be carried away
in denouncing the current administration. They handled the
demonstrations in an appalling manner, both in the run-up to the actual
day and on the day itself. The conduct of the administration is
shameful, arrogant, and senseless. The lies that are spewed to cover up
the very public acts of violence add insult to injury.

In contrast, the Pakatan Rakyat
(PR) has cleverly stepped in to support Bersih 2.0. It cannot be
denied that Bersih 2.0’s demands, which promote fair play and a level
playing field during elections, would end up favouring the federal
opposition.

And except for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s
gaffe in claiming that he could call off the demonstrations, the PR
has generally allowed civil society to take the lead in this movement.

The dramatic unfolding of events on 9 July 2011, as broadcast to the world through social media, YouTube
and international media, may lead one to conclude that clearly the PR
is the better choice for the next elections. However, there is one
major obstacle, to my mind: Anwar.

For all intents and purposes, and subject to the court’s verdict in Anwar’s sodomy trial,
Anwar is the person put forward by the PR as Prime Minister
designate. But is Anwar in reality a better candidate than Datuk Seri
Najib Razak to be PM of Malaysia? With respect, I cannot at this
juncture respond with a resounding “yes”.

Points for Najib

Grudgingly, I must admit that Najib has made some good moves as PM. The 1Malaysia
campaign stands out as an extremely clever move. Yes, 1Malaysia means
different things to different groups, but isn’t that part and parcel
of the art of politics? And while many may belittle this campaign as
nothing but empty talk, I beg to differ. As a practising lawyer, I have
observed in the past couple of years an increase in the recruitment
of non-Malay Malaysian personnel in the courts. Of course, this is
anecdotal evidence, but the observation must be recorded.

The appointment of Datuk Sri Idris Jala
to the cabinet is another outstanding feather in Najib’s cap. Idris
comes with excellent credentials, and an enviable track record. I feel
safe for Malaysia that someone like Idris is taking a hard look at the
state of the Malaysian economy. I am comforted when Idris announces
that Malaysia
may potentially go bankrupt, because it tells me that at the very
least, the authorities know the dire straits we are in. I would be much
more alarmed if the authorities keep on insisting that Malaysia is on
a fine growth track, and we are poised to be the next Asian economic
powerhouse.

Najib has also eased much of the tension between Malaysia and Singapore,
and that too is a good thing. Really, we have got to stop the rivalry
between our two countries. Singapore can be very beneficial for
Malaysia, and Singapore can gain much from cooperating with Malaysia
as well. We have got avenues to strike win-win collaborations. Twenty
years of demonising Singapore under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s rule is enough.

It’s time to move on.

Here’s another reason why I like Najib. He appears to be a man of
the world. He does not pretend to be overly religious, or cite the
scriptures wantonly. I don’t know him personally, but I suspect that he
may have a quiet sip of Chardonnay on some nights. In Malaysia, there
are so many politicians who want to claim the moral high ground,
either by asserting religious or racial rights. That makes me
exhausted. Sure, there would be occasions when Najib, too, would have
to play to the gallery. But I imagine our PM is not reading books on
political philosophy during his free time. One could imagine him
sitting down on a quiet Sunday afternoon with his family watching The Simpsons, and actually appreciating the show.

Points against Anwar

In contrast, Anwar may speak much about unity, but he can never
fully explain away his years in the Mahathir administration. Yes,
imprisonment (usually referred to by Anwar as “solitary confinement”)
can change a person. Nevertheless, I do not buy Anwar’s story of
solitary confinement. I imagine the Malaysian prison to be a crowded
and unpleasant place, and I imagine that Anwar was given his own cell
due to his previous high position. Hence, what he touts as “solitary
confinement”, I suspect to be a benefit accorded to him by the prison
authorities.

Anwar promotes populist economic policies.
He claims that the eradication of corruption would be sufficient to
maintain subsidies for the Malaysian economy. I think this is a muddied
approach. Yes, we need to install a social net for the poorest of the
poor. But why should money saved from the eradication of corruption
go towards maintaining subsidies? Why should the subsidy mentality be
maintained?

Anwar was in the forefront of the fight to restore the use of Malay language in the teaching of Mathematics and Science.
That is subjecting our education system to politics, and that is
irresponsible. We are in a global village, and English is the lingua
franca. Perhaps the policy to use English could have been better
thought out. Perhaps there could be a dual system. And perhaps some
schools may be given a choice. Anwar did not discuss any of these
options. It appears as if he sensed an opportunity to score some
brownie points with the populace, and he took the opportunity.
Opportunists do not make great statespersons.

And finally, I sometimes cannot understand Anwar when he launches
into his intellectual mode. An old proverb says, “When words are many,
sin is not absent.” Have you heard Anwar when he tries to assert his
intellectualism? Sure, bombastic words sound impressive. And when
someone quotes multiple sources, he or she sounds credible. But in
doing so, he or she forgets that 93% of communication
comes from non-verbal cues. To me, in Anwar’s case, his words get so
much in the way that I cannot sense his heart. And that makes me have
reservations about him.

So what is the impact of Bersih 2.0? It has shown me that I have no credible choice in the next general election.

UMNO’s spin doctors in Utusan Malaysia are scraping the
bottom of the barrel bringing out of the woodwork discredited
personalities to weave lies which positively damage Malaysia’s national
interests and international image.

The latest incident is the surfacing of the discredited
Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor who gave an interview
with Mingguan Malaysia on Sunday alleging the Bersih 2.0 rally could
open the door to Jews and Israel to infiltrate Malaysia as there were
parties who wanted countries like Malaysia that was against Jews and
Israel to be toppled.

Although Rahim Noor established his professional career as Special
Branch Director (just as he destroyed his service as IGP because of his
criminal assault of Anwar Ibrahim in the infamous “black eye” episode in
1998), he could have no evidence for his sensational allegation in the
Mingguan Malaysia interview apart from a very fertile figment of
imagination.

However, based on Rahim Noor’s unsupported allegation, Utusan
Malaysia carried an editorial yesterday as good as warning that the “Jew
are coming” as a result of the Bersih 2.0 rally.

Either the Utusan Malaysia spin doctors have the full endorsement
and a blank cheque from the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and
the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to spin their worst,
or the Umno spin doctors are totally out of control and neither the
Prime Minister nor the Home Minister has the power to exercise any
control over them even when they go on a rampage positively damaging
Malaysia’s national interests and international image.